No excuses for failing kids

Last year a man who had been ordered out of his home while on trial for sexually abusing his stepdaughter moved back into the house, where his two other children were present, without permission.
The state's child welfare agency, then called the Division of Youth and Family Services, was warned -- by the very child the man was accused of molesting -- and should have reacted immediately. But it didn't. Two days later, the father killed his two children, his wife and himself.
That tragedy happened to the McCarter family of Millville. On Wednesday, the Office of the Child Advocate released details of DYFS's involvement with the family, including several failures to follow routine procedures for visits, assessments and followup to ensure that the family was safe. The report examined two other child deaths, but the McCarter case stands out, marked as it was by a child's cry for help.

It was a warning that gave the agency an opportunity to overcome whatever sins of omission it had previously committed. It was an opportunity ignored with horrific consequences.
The union representing DYFS caseworkers said the report was unfair because it looked at a time when the agency was in upheaval over a court-ordered reform effort that had it churning with changes, untrained recruits and supervisors still juggling huge caseloads.
That's true, but it excuses nothing. No set of policies and procedures, even if followed to the letter, is a guarantee against tragedy. The child welfare system exists because some people are a danger to their children and families. The child welfare system cannot protect those in danger, however, if it fails to react even in the case of warnings that by any measure of common sense demand an immediate response.
The advocate's report said that since the McCarter killings, the agency has made significant progress in reducing caseloads and making other improvements. Good. The federal monitor supervising the court-ordered reform issued a report a few days before the advocate's. The monitor said New Jersey's system is now "focused and productive" but still not consistently functioning as well as it must. Not good enough.
The agency will never obtain the high standards it must unless all those involved admit obvious failure, with no excuses, and then determine how to keep such things from ever happening again.